F6d 
.G7S 



-f- 



pyith the Compliments oi 




EARLY MILE-STONES 



LEADING FROM BOSTON; 



AND 



MILE-STONES AT GROTON. 



BY 



SAMUEL ABBOTT GREEN. 



Glass 




M^^Cjl^ 



// 



/ 
/ 



EARLY MILE-STONES 

LEADING FROM BOSTON; 



AND 



MILE-STONES AT GROTON. 



BY 

SAMUEL ABBOTT GREEN. 



/ ■ 



3^2- 



Set thee up wayniarks, ... set 
thine heart toward the highway, . . . 

Jkremiaii, xxxi. 21. 



CAMBRIDGE: 
JOHN WILSON AND SON. 

Slnibersttp |3rtS8. 
1909. 






From the 

Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society 

FOR January, 1909. 



Gin 
Ifli 



^vi.CL'.Ql nSLQA/^ . 



EARLY MILE-STONES 

LEADING FROM BOSTON; 
AND ISIILE-STONES AT GROTON. 



At a meeting of the Massachusetts Historical So- 
ciety held in Boston on Tliursday, January 14, 1909, 
Dr. Samuel A. Green communicated the following 
paper : — 

The earliest legislation in this Commonwealth on the subject 
of Guide-posts bears date February 28, 17U5. At that time an 
Act was passed by the General Court requiring the Selectmen 
of the several towns and districts, under certain conditions, to 
erect Guide-posts at the corners and angles of all roads in such 
towns and districts ; and imposing penalties for non-compliance 
with the law. Before that time, in a few towns, individuals 
had set up stones by the roadside, marking the distance and 
direction to some important town ; and these persons often 
added their own initials, as well as the year when the stones 
were placed. 

Numerous mile-stones are now to be found by roadsides on 
the way from Boston to Milton, Providence, and Cambridge. 
It is known that some of these stones were set up by Paul 
Dudley, Chief-Justice of the Province, as they bear his name or 
initials ; and probably others were, though they do not bear 
them. In the eighteenth century it was not uncommon for a 
well-to-do man in the community to place mile-stones by the 
roadside along tlie main thoroughfares mostly for the con- 
venience of wayfarers, but perhaps partly for his own glorifi- 
cation, as he often added his own initials to the inscri[)tions. 
In speaking of the C-hief-Justice, our late associate Dr. Na- 
thaniel B. Shurtleff says : "He was buried in the tomb of his 



fathers; but his epitaphs are only to be read on the numerous 
mile stones that skirt the roads in Norfolk County. One of 
these, erected in 1744, may be seen near the Norfolk House, 
at the corner of Centre and Washington streets, on Eliot 
square, . . . This old Parting Stone has undoubtedly pointed 
the way to what was once considered the termination of civ- 
ilization." (Topographical History of Boston, p. 274.) 

The first inscription is on the front of the stone and faces 
Eliot Square ; 

THE 

PARTING 

STONE 

i;^4<4< 

P DUDLEY 

and the other inscriptions appear, respectively, on the south- 
erly and northerly sides. 

DEDHAM 

vDUnnr CAMBRIDGE 
X ^^UUL WATERTOVW 

ISLAND 



Leaving the Parting Stone at tlie corner of Roxbury and 
Centre Streets, — as known to-day, — in Eliot Square, Rox- 
bury, the right-hand road led off to Cambridge, and was the 
nearest way to that town, as then there was no bridge over 
the Charles River from Boston. The left-hand road led to 
Providence by the way of Dedham ; and at that peiiod each 
of these roads was flanked by stones marking the miles for a 
considerable distance. Most of these wayside monuments 
bear the initials " P D," which point to the man who caused 
them to be erected. Several of the stones are now missing, 
but some still remain. The distance was taken from the 
Town-house in Boston, now known as the Old State House. 
The following entries in Chief-Justice Sewall's Diary show 
this fact : 

Feria secimda, July, 14t> 1707. Mr. Antram and I, having Benj. 
Smitli and David to wait on us, Measured witli his Wheel from the 
Tofwu-House Two Miles, and drove down Stakes at each Mile's end, 
in oi-der to placing Stone-posts in convenient time. From the Town- 
House to the Oak and Walnut, is a Mile wanting 21^ Rods. Got home 
again about Eight aclork (ii. 192). 

Feria guinta, Aug* 7V' 1707. Peter Weare set up the Stone Post 
to shew a Mile from the Town-House ends : Silence Allen, Mr. Gib- 

bons's Son, Mr. Thrasher, Salter, W™ Wheelers Simpson 

and a Carter assisted, made a Plumb- Line of his Whip. Being Lecture- 
day, I sent David with Mr. Weare to shew him where the second 
should be set; were only two little Boys besides (ii. 193). 



When Judge Sewall made his measurement of the distances 
from the Town-liouse, the neck of land connecting Roxbury 
with the peninsula was a very narrow strip along the water's 
edge, not wholly straight but conforming to the shore line. 
Since that period of time some streets have been straightened, 
and others laid out anew, but in this paper, for the sake of 
convenience, I shall use in each instance the modern name 
of the several streets mentioned. 

According to Bonner's Map of Boston, published in 1722, 
the first mile-stone from the Town-house was placed on the 
west side of Washington Street, near Lucas Street. The sec- 
ond stone was set, probably, near Willard Place, a little south 
of Camden Street. These two stones, mentioned by Sewall in 



6 

his Diary, began the series which at a later period was con- 
tinued by Dudley and Belcher, hereinafter to be described. 
On the way to Cambridge three stones are still standing, 

B OSTON 
4 MILES 

PD 

Boston 

Smiles 

1729 

P D 



which mark the fourth, fifth, and seventh miles, respectively, 
all bearing the " P D " initials. The fourth stone stands on 
the inner side of the walk, against the board fence surround- 
ing; the grounds of the House of the Good Shepherd. The 
fifth stone stands in the grounds of the Plarvard Church, 
Brookline ; and the sixth has disappeared. The seventh stone 



BOSTON 
7 MILES 
fj 29 

PD 



stands in the yard of the Primary School-house, North Har- 
vard Street, Brighton. The fifth and seventh stones were 
placed originally on the opposite side of the street. 

The eighth stone in the series once stood in Harvard 
Square, Cambridge, ending the line of guide-posts in that 
direction, though it does not belong to the Dudley group. 
It stood originally near the town-house in the Square, at 
what was later the fork of the roads, — one going by the 
old road to Brighton, then a part of Cambridge, Brookline, 
and Roxi)ury, and the other toward Boston. It bore on the 
front face tiie following inscription : 



Boston 

8 MILES 

1734 

A I 



This distance was by the old road through Brookline and 
Roxbury ; and the two initial letters stand for Abraham 
Ireland, a surveyor of that period. More than a half cen- 
tury after the stone was originally set, the West Boston 
Bridge — now represented by the Cambridge Bridge — was 
opened in the autumn of 179l, wSon another inscription was 
placed on the rear face. 

Thus the stone was made to do double duty as a guide- 
post, though after that year the new bridge must have taken 
all the travel going to Boston. 

Tlie Harvard Square mile-stone has had a curious history ; 
and as Mr. John Langdon Sibley, the most munificent bene- 
factor of the Historical Society, was interested in it, and had 
a hand in one of its new placings, I give here a detailed ac- 
count of it. In some digging by the town authorities, — or 
perhaps in the removal of the old market, wliich took place 
about 1830, — the stone, no longer needed, became buried in 
the rubbish, and thus was lost to sight. Many years after- 
ward, in building the hay scales, it came to view again when 
with other stones it was carried to the city stables to be 
broken up or used as dumping material. 



9 

The inscription on the rear face is as follows : 

CAMBRIDGE 



New Bridge 
2i Miles 



J794 



Moses King, in his '• Harvard and its Surroundings" (1882), 
has the following paragraph : 

We are now in the vicinity of the " Old Mile Stone " that projects 
above the curh on the west side of the college yard near Dane Hall. 
The librarian enoeritus [Mr. Sibley] found the stone after it had been for 
many years lost to public view, and planted it near the spot where it 
was originally placed by the surveyor, Abraham Ireland, whose initials 
form part of the inscription (p. 77). 

At an earlier time, perhaps as late as 1865 or 1870, the stone 
had been placed between the sidewalk and the curbstone, where 
it attracted considerable attention. It stood just north of the 
present entrance to the gate erected by the Class of 1875 ; and 
it always caused comment on the part of those who could not 
explain the fact that it was eight miles to Boston. The stone 
remained here, near the edge of the sidewalk, for perhaps 



10 

twenty or twenty-five years, until 1892, when it was removed 
across the street to its present site in the Burying-ground, 
where it stands at the north-east corner. 

It was largely through the efforts of Mr. George Savil 
Saunders, at that time chairman of the Cemetery Commission, 
that this last change was made. The public owes much to him 
and his brother, the late William Augustus Saunders, for the 
intelligent interest which they both took in saving the stone. 

It seems unlikely that this old mile-stone will ever be dis- 
turbed again ; and now that its use has long been superseded, 
it accords with the fitness of things that it should stand near 
the grave of Abraham Ireland, — as shown by Harris's Cam- 
bridge Epitaphs (p. 104), — who first set it up as a public 
utility. 

Leaving the Parting Stone again, and taking the left-hand 
road, which led off to Dedham and Providence, we find now 
the third, fourth, fifth (at Jamaica Plain), and sixth mile- 
stones, flanking Centre Street (the third stone not marked 
" P D "). The numeration of these miles began at the Town- 
house in Boston ; and the series of stones placed by Paul 
Dudley was a continuation of those already set up by Judge 
Sewall. 

The stone marking the third mile in the Dudley series stands 

Boston 

SMILES 

17 2-9 



11 



on the southerly side of Centre Street, diagonally opposite to 
and easterly of Gardner Street, on the inside of the sidewalk. 

Size of the stone: 30 inches wide, 23 inches high, and 7 
inches thick. 

The fourth stone stood near Forbes Street, nearly opposite 
to Creighton Street. On August 10, 1880, it was taken up by 
Mr. Elisha Charles Burford, trimmed down and set in the re- 
taining wall in front of his house, at 364 Centre Street. 




Size : 21 inches wide, 15 inches high, and 11 inches thick. 

The fifth stone stands near the northerly corner of Eliot 
Street, on the inside of the sidewalk. 

Size : 32 inches wide, 45 inches high, and 10 inches thick. 

The sixth stone — the last one in the Dudley series on this 
line — is found opposite to Allandale Street, placed in the wall 
on the easterly side of Centre Street. • 

Size : 27 inches wide, and 45 inches high. 

Another mile-stone on the way to Providence stands in 
Walpole, twenty miles from Boston, and was placed origi- 
nally by Ezekiel Robbins, the keeper of the Brass Ball tavern 
in that town. A cut of this stone is given in the lower half 
of page 13. The following account of it is taken from the 
"Dedham Historical Register" for April, 1000: 



12 




Dosion 
Townhomc 




An old milestone, . . . bearing the inscription stood on the southerly 
side of West Street, a little beyond the tavern, the place chosen mark- 
ing a relay on the oldest stage road to Providence. The stone was dug 
out and allowed to lie forgotten for some time after the road was 
widened, until about five years ago, when Mr. Wilmarth, one of the 



13 




I75^:PD 



ER 



•20 




KSION 
1140 



14 

old residents, rescued it from possible loss and placed it before the 
town hall, where it now stands (xi. 35). 

pi Another series of Paul-Dudley stones is found going toward 
Milton, in continuation of the Sewall stones, which ended near 
Camden Street in Boston. 

In eai'ly times there were two roads to Milton, — both begin- 
ning at different points in Washington Street, Roxbury, and 
passing through Dorchester, — which were known as the upper 
road and the lower road. For the sake of convenience I use 
the modern name of streets in describing these two thor- 
oughfares. The upper one in the main followed the way now 
represented by Warren Street and by Washington Street, 
Dorchester ; and the lower one, the way now represented by 
Eustis and Adams Streets and other connecting links ; and 
they both come together at the Lower Mills, on the Dorchester 
side of the Neponset River. In more recent times these two 
old roads in certain places have been widened and straightened 
so much that it is difficult to give exactly their course along 
modern streets. 

\73S 

PD 



15 

On the upper road to Milton, here mentioned, stands a 
" P D " stone at Grove Hall marking four miles from Boston, 
but the third mile-stone on this road is now missing, though it 
was in place twenty years ago. 

A longer time ago — perhaps twenty-five years — there stood 
aiiother stone on the westerly side of Washington Street, Dor- 
chester, near School Street, — which marked the fifth mile 
from Boston, — but this is now gone. It is not known to-day 
by whom it was placed. A sixth mile-stone in this series is 
found at the south corner of Mora Street, but it does not 
belong to the Paul-Dudley group. I draw this inference 
from the fact that the stone itself is of a different style in the 
cutting, though the meaning of the letters or characters there 
seen is obscure, — perhaps they stood for names of persons. 

Along the lower road was another series of stones marking 
distances from the Town-house in Boston, which were placed 
probably by Jonathan Belcher, Governor of the Province, who 
bought an estate at Milton in the year 1727. This group was 
a continuation of the Sewall series, as was the Dudley group, 
although some of the stones are now missing. 



HEMMS 
WC 



M to B 



^ 



16 

The third stone stood probably near Clarence Street, but is 
now gone. The fourth stone stood opposite to Trull Street, 
but in recent times it has been removed from the original site 
and set up at the left of the entrance to the building of the 
Dorchester Historical Society, formerly known as the Blake 
house, situated in Pond Street. 



4 



Miles From 
Boft-on 

Town Hous 

17 Ji 



The following inscription on a wooden tablet affixed to the 
house has been placed just above the stone : 

Old Dorchester Mile Stone 
erkcted during the 

ADMINISTRATION OF GoV. BeLCHER 

IN 1734 ON Hancock opposite Trvll St. 

Removed to this spot 

ON DoRCHKSTER Day June 8, 1907. 

A volume (^p. 117) containing the proceedings on this oc- 
casion was published by the city of Boston, which has as a 
frontispiece a half-tone print of the stone, together with a 
group of persons who took part in the exercises. 



17 

The fifth stone, perhaps placed between Leonard and 
Dickens Streets, has now disappeared ; and also the sixth 
stone somewhere near Aslimont Sti-eet. 

The seventh stone stood on Adams Street, opposite to the 
south corner of Dorchester Park. It bears the following 
inscription : 



7 



Miles lo Eoflon 

To"wn = riou{e, 
I73¥- 

H 



The Rev. Albert K. Teele, in his "History of Milton, 
Mass." (1887), while writing of this stone, says : 

There is a stone of the same [Belcher] line built into the wall on 
the south side of Adams street, Dorchester, a few rods from the end ot 
Richmond street, and others may be found at points nearer Boston 
(p. 112). 

Some years later, perhaps in 1895, this stone was removed 
from its original site across the street and built into the wall 
of the Dorchester Park by the Park Commission. 

Size : the stone of which only the face shows, 22 inches 
wide and 30 inches high. 

In the wall on the north side of Adams Street, on the top 
of Milton Hill, near the entrance to the estate of the late 
Colonel Oliver W. Peabody, and a short distance south of 
the Hutchinson Field, is the eighth mile-stone of tiie Belcher 
group, last of the series now standing. 



18 




n i 1 e^ to B.Townhoufe 
The Lower way. J73if. 

Size : 21 inches wide, 24 inches high, and 7 inches thick. 

B 



B 



Size : 16 inches wide, 30 inches high, and about 8 inches 
thick. 



19 




n23 



Size : 15 inches wide, 45 inches high, and sides join at back, 
12 inches. 

There was formerly a ninth mile -stone of the Belcher 
group, — which was the end of that series, — but this has 
now disappeared. Mr. Teelc, in his Histor}' (p. 112), thus 
alludes to it: " Another Belcher stone originally stood a few 
feet north of the avenue to Mrs. Payson's house." Her estate 
forms now a part of the old Belcher propert}', the entrance to 
which is on the south side of Adams Street. A " platway 
drawn by James Blake, indicating the position and line of 
these stones is in the possession of Edmund J. Baker" (Teele, 
p. 112), but this manuscript cannot be found. 

Now let us go back to the sixth stone in the line of the 
Paul-Dudley group, mentioned on page 15, but which does 
not belong to that group. 

The seventh mile-stone (1722) stands in front of the house 
of Asaph Churchill at Milton, on the west side of the road, 
very near the stone wall. It is about 25 rods south of the 
eighth stone in the Belcher scries, which stands on the other 



20 



side of the road near the Peabody place. It will be seen that 
the distances marked by the stones of the two series vary, 
as shown on page 18, which is due to the fact that they 
approach this point by different routes. 

The eighth mile-stone (1723) is " near Mr. Breck'aat East 
tihton 'Vf Teele, p. 113), and is placed a little way ISl^ of the 



Church. 

The ninth stone stands in Quincy, on the south side of 
Adams Street, opposite the Newcorab estate. 




1 7 JO 

IN 



Size : 19 inches wide, 39 inches high, and 15 inches thick. 

A cut of this stone forms the frontispiece to Mr. Charles 
Francis Adams's Centennial Address at Quincy, on July 4, 
1892. In the reproduction, apparently the letters on the stone 
had been recently painted in order to bring them out more 
clearly, and the figure " 3 " in the year 1730 was thus changed 
to a " 2." Mr. Adams says : " Not a day passes but some 
one looks with interest on the single ancient milestone of 
1720 [1730?] which still within Quincy hmits marks the old 
Plymouth road. Rude, rough and ill-proportioned, it has cut 



21 

upon it, besides the distance from Boston and tlie date, the 
initials J. N., — standing, I am told, for ' Ca|)t. Lieut.' Joseph 
Neal, as he is designated on his gravestone in the burying- 
ground opposite " (p. 8). 

The tenth stone stood originally in its proper place by the 
roadside, but forty years ago, more or less, it was broken into 
pieces, and only a fragment saved, which was built into the 
wall in front of the house of the late Lemuel Brackett. The 
piece is seen near the central part of the cit}', and bears only 
the following : 




10 



The eleventh stone stood near the so-called Adams houses 
at the foot of Penn's Hill, but long ago it disappeared and no 
trace of it now remains. 




12 
IM1727IH 



22 

The twelfth stone stands on the rising ground beyond the 
southern slope of Penn's Hill, on the easterly side of the road, 
and comes within the town limits of Braintree. Through the 
efforts of the late Samuel A. Bates, town-clerk and accom- 
plished antiquar}', this stone was saved from ignoble uses, 
where it " might stop a hole " or cover a drain. 

Mr. Adams, in the Appendix to his address, gives an inter- 
esting account of the mile-stones in Quincy, which fits so well 
into my paper that I reprint it, as follows : 

The ninth, the first of the series in Quincy, is referred to in the text, 
and is reproduced in the frontispiece to this Address. At least one 
attempt has been made to remove aujd " utilize " this stone for some 
such purpose as repairing a wall or covering a drain ; but the emphatic 
objection of members of the Newcomb family, whose house stood oppo- 
site to it, prevented, in this case, an act of stupid and ignorant desecra- 
tion. The tenth stone — an historical landmark in Old Braintree and 
Quincy — stood in its proper place by the roadside in the centre of the 
town, until one day, some twenty years ago, a stone-mason, building 
one of those fortifications known as ornamental stone walls in front of 
the house of the late Lemuel Brackett, seized upon it, tore it up and cut 
it to pieces, and inserted a portion of it in the wretched wall he was 
constructing. The portion thus preserved bears the initial letter, " B," 
and the distance figures (10) from Boston ; the rest of the stone is gone. 
The eleventh milestone stood close to the so-called Adams houses at the 
foot of Penu's Hill. Less fortunate than the tenth, this milestone wholly 
disappeared years ago, and no trace of it remains. It was probably 
taken possession of by the masons engaged in building the Samuel 
Curtis house in 1830 (Quincy Patriot^ Oct. 26, 1889) ; and they, with 
no idea whatever of the act of desecration they were committing, not 
improbably used it in common with the stones of the old boundary wall, 
near the street end of which it is said to have stood, as foundation ma- 
terial. Indeed, the tradition is that all this stone was " utilized " for 
the underpinning of the barn built close behind the house, and still 
standing. If such is the case, it is within the bounds of possibility 
that the old eleventh milestone may yet be recovered, and restored to 
the place where it stood for more than a century. The twelfth mile- 
stone still stands on the rising ground beyond the southern slope of 
Penn's Hill, on the easterly side of the road. It bears, besides the 
indications of distance the date (1727), two sets of initials, I. M. and 
I. H. I have not ascertained of whom they are commemorative. Some 
years ago a highly utilitarian surveyor of highways seized on this 
stone as a handy cover for a drain or culvert he was engaged in con- 
structing. Fortunately this act of vandalism came to the knowledge of 



23 

Samuel A. Bates, the veteran town clerk and antiquarian of Rraiiitree, 
who bestirred himself in time, and was lucky enough to induce the 
selectmen to interfere and preserve the memorial (pp. 41, 42). 



OP Eff 




36IVIiles| 

to Charles-R-, 
Bridge. 



787. 



At the present time there are several raile-stones in Groton 
which were set up during the eighteenth century. Two of 
them certainly were placed by Dr. Oliver Prescott, younger 
brother of Colonel William Prescott, who commanded the 



24 

American forces at the Battle of Bunker Hill; and two others 
were set up, probably either by him or at his suggestion, 
during the same period. They all are of slate ; and the 
largest stands by the roadside, at the southerly end of the 
village street, on the easterly side of the way, near the fork of 
the roads and close by the entrance to Mr. Lawrence Park's 
estate. The stone is between five and six feet in height, and 
is shaped somewhat like a capital letter P of colossal size, the 
upper part being considerably broader than the lower part, 
though the resemblance is not very close. 

The Charles River Bridge, leading from Boston to Charles- 
town, was opened on June 17, 1786, and soon became a promi- 
nent point to people living in Middlesex County. Some vandal 
has tried to chip off " Esqf " after the initials, but the letters 
can still be made out. 

The Reverend William Bentley, D.D., of Salem, in his 
Diary, recently published by the Essex Institute, gives an 
account of a trip which he made to Dartmouth College in 
the summer of 1793. On his way there he passed through 
Groton, and mentions this stone together with other entries 
in his journal which now are of interest. He writes : 

We dined at Bollan's [in Chelmsford] & paid l"" /, our engagement 
being to have no charges for the horsemen & his horses, & at ^ past 3 
set out for Groton. ... As we entered Westford we saw the best 
corn, & the best tobacco, & a few small hop yards. Corn being 
planted in all the farms & a patch of tobacco near many of the barns, 
& some towns through which we passed are remarkable for hops. 
. . . From the rough roads we passed over several miles of pines & 
sandy land, & soon were relieved with the elegant seat of G.[eneral 
Oliver] Prescot, & the Buildings of his Son about h mile below him. 
The seat is opposite to the Boston road which at this place enters into 
the cross road to Worcester. . . . Gen. Prescot house has near it a 
stone shewing that it is 36 miles to Boston & 30 miles to Worcester. 
Called at the General's & found an elegant House in good order, but 
he was not within (ii. 41, 42). 

Another stone, about three feet high, stands in close prox- 
imity, just beyond the crotch, on the westerly side of the road. 
On this stone, also, an attempt has been made to chisel off the 
word " Esq." The inscription reads : 



25 



O. P. Esq. 



Miles to 

Worcester 

1783 

A third stone, about three feet in height, stands near the 
Groton School, on the easterly side of Farmers' Row, at the 
south corner of Peabody Street and was set up probably by Dr. 
Prescott. The top has been broken off, but the inscription 
remains, as folhjws : 



29 

Miles to 
Worcester. 

In front of the old tavern in the village, now known as the 
Groton Inn, is a fourth stone, belonging to the same period of 
time, standing out of the ground about a foot and a half, and 
perhaps set up by Dr. Prescott, which bears these words : 

To 

Boston • 

35 

On the north side of the Great Road to Boston there is a 
slate slab, about four feet in height, which bears the following 
inscription : 

To 
Boston 

34 



26 

The stone stands about a mile from the village, near Cady 
Pond. It is not known when or by whom it was put up ; 
but probably the date goes back to the eighteenth century. 
The width near the top is about fourteen inches. 

According to the guide-board at the nortli-west corner of the 
Common, the distance from Groton to Boston is thirty-four 
miles ; and this is considered to be correct. In the years 1902 
and 1903 the selectmen caused to be set up, on the several 
roads leading to the outer limits of the town, granite posts 
marking the distance of each mile from the Town-house. 
Twentj^-eight such stones have been thus placed by the road- 
side for the benefit of the wayfarer; and they stand about two 
and a half feet out of the ground. 

It may not be amiss here to note the fact that there was 
formerly some lettering on a boulder in an old wall that stood 
within a few feet of the mile-stone mentioned at the top of 
page 25. It bears the initials of Dr. Oliver Prescott as well as 
those of his grandfather who more than a century previously 
had cut his own initials on the same stone. It is possible that 
this inscription in the old wall first suggested to Dr. Prescott 
the idea of erecting mile-stones in close proximity to the 
boulder. The inscription on the boulder is as follows : 

I P 

i68o 

Rebuilt by 

O P 

rebuilt by 

S. J. Park 

I 841. 

The initials I. P. are those of Jonas Prescott, — rudely cut, 
undoubtedly by himself, as he was a blacksmith, — and O. P. 
are those of his grandson Dr. Oliver Prescott. S. J. Park 
was Stuart James Park, the great-giand father of Mr. Lawrence 
Park who now owns the adjacent land. 



2l 

Jonas Prescott was an active man in the affairs of the town, 
and the ancestor of a long line of distinguished families. He 
was the grandfather of Colonel William Prescott, commander 
of the American Forces at the Battle of Bunker Hill, who 
was himself the father of William Prescott the lawyer and 
jurist, and the grandfather of William Hickling Prescott the 
historian. 

In the year 1876 this piece of stone wall containing the 
boulder and separating a parfe of the Prescott house-lot from 
the highway was removed. Three years after it was taken 
away, I endeavored to find the stone, then to all intents and 
purposes lost; and it was a long while before I got any trace 
of it. The late Willard H. Giles, at that time the owner of the 
farm, knew nothing about it, and in fact had never seen it. I 
was told, however, that it might have been used in stoning up 
the cellar of a barn built in 1876, and here I directed my 
search. With Mr. Giles's permission I employed two men 
for two days to take out and replace various stones, until the 
missing one was found. Subsequently I gave the memorial to 
Mr. James Lawrence, a lineal descendant of Jonas Prescott, 
who has had it set in the wall on the north side of his front 
gate on Farmers' Row, where it is likely to remain for many 
years. 

It may not be amiss to give here the derivation of the word 
" mile," which comes from the Latin mille. With the Romans 
a mile was a thousand steps, or paces (mille passman) ; and thus 
the word has come down to us in our^ daily speech. 






014 012 626 3 




